February 22, 2019 9:24 am
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City Announces Funding to Restore Youth Employment at Shuttered Site

Posted by Editoron April 14, 2016in Education|Comments Off on City Announces Funding to Restore Youth Employment at Shuttered Site

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced an investment to restore 65 youth employment opportunities at a small business that had been closed earlier this year due to funding withheld by the state’s ongoing budget impasse. Bikes N’ Roses, which provides after-school and summer jobs for local high school students, will reopen its Belmont Cragin location with assistance by the city, allowing the business to employ 50 youth as part of the 2016 One Summer Chicago program. To reopen Bikes N’ Roses’ Belmont Cragin location, Mayor Emanuel has directed a $60,000 investment to restore 20 yearlong youth employment opportunities, and an additional $94,000 through One Summer Chicago program funding to provide 50 youths with summer work opportunities at the same site. Started in 2011, Bikes N’ Roses is a youth employment program run by non-profit organization Communities United. The program, which relies on $276,000 in state grants to train and employ youth across its two sites, was forced to close down one of the sites earlier this year when as a result of an executive order by Governor Rauner, which froze the program’s core operational funding was frozen. Currently, Bikes N’ Roses’ Albany Park location employs 15 youth who provide bike repair services, provides workshop training to 100 youth, and has a customer base of over 2,000 people. The City’s investment will allow the Belmont Cragin bike shop to fully operate out of its storefront and will provide wages for youth and mentors, along with supplies for training workshops. Applications to participate in One Summer Chicago are being accepted now through May 15th at www.onesummerchicago.org.